Brianero Knew This Was Coming...

a report of last night's festivities (Not very festive).

Monday Brian stopped in to the shop and asked if I wanted to go on a ride after work Tuesday (yesterday). I called Bridget and asked if there was anything that I needed to be back for and if she minded...she said no and no after giving me a bit of a hard time. Nice!

Yesterday I arrived at Brian's abode and we were quickly on our way on a meandering ride through the streets and schools and parks near his house. We eventually came to Cooks Butte Park. What a cool little place that is. It has singletrack, some meadows, all with enough elevation gain and loss to make it interesting. At one point during ride to the park,I was chasing Brian down though a little piece of neighborhood singletrack that was shrouded in trees and shrubs. I missed an obstacle on the singletrack. Well, I missed seeing it. I was pedaling out of the saddle (Yes, PFJ I do get out of the saddle occasionally) and I slammed my pedal and crank arm in to a rock that was in the shadows. It nearly threw me off the bike. Brian teased me saying at if I had trouble just riding through there that maybe he shouldn't taking my down a particular downhill section of singletrack that he had planned on hitting in Cooks Butte. Well, not hitting, but riding. Hitting it is what he did though. I told him I had plenty of skills and not to worry.

After riding through the meadow and back up we hit the singletrack area around Cooks Butte. We wound up the butte and at first I had problems making the switchbacks without dabbing. Then the rust came off and I was able to zip up the switchback turns fairly easily. Brian continually dabbed, he joked that maybe I should lead the way. No way, I had never ridden here before so I let him take the lead once more.

We came to the beginning of the downhill stretch that he had spoken of earlier. The initial portion of the trail drops in fairly steep for the first 10 feet or so and then continues down at a more reasonable rate of decline. I never got to see the rest of the trail. When Brian dropped in to the trail he ended up going straight over the bars. It looked brutal. I saw his shoulder and face hit and I guess his arms hit pretty hard as well. He was stunned. His face looked ok, a bit dirty, but no blood. His jersey was a bit torn at the shoulder. One of his knees had been bloodied but he was able to stand on it. He grabbed his bike and gingerly walked to the fireroad that we had just been on. I thought he was going to be OK and I was itching to try the same section. Seriously, despite his wreck I still wanted to ride it. I didn't realize that Brian was truly in some pain and discomfort and I went down the first section of the trail expecting Brian to maybe just walk that section and then continue riding...umm, no.

We ended up walking out of the park and down to the road. He braved riding as long as he could and then he said that he was done. He was having a difficult time staying on the handlebars and braking. He looked pale. We tried using my cell phone to call his wife but she didn't answer. So I took off to his house and after taking the longer, hilly way there. I don't ride in that area much and I didn't know which was the best way. My phone's map didn't show elevation and so I of course chose the route back to his house that was loaded with hills...whoops. That was about the longest 3.5 mile ride I have ever had. And YES, PFJ, my butt was out of the saddle much of the time. I arrived wheezing just a bit at the truck, hopped in and sped back to where he was waiting. He was chilled since it took me a while. We drove to the house and I helped cut his jersey off of him and he gingerly got ready to go the ER. Just has we were about to leave when Erin, his wife, came home. She took over and I left. At the ER he found out that he has to fractured elbows. The left one is in a cast and the other is highly immobile. He can't reach his own face to feed himself. He is able reach his "posterior" as he put it, so at least part of his dignity is intact.

I feel awful for the guy. But, I have to say that for someone with significant injuries he didn't whine much. He will be in a cast for the next 4 weeks, but his cyclocross season is in jeopardy.

I tried to think of some good news...but what is there. I mean at least they were fractures instead of breaks, but still...geesh.

Get well soon Brianero!